1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waste press with an ejection device in which at least one lifting plate is arranged on or in a bottom floor of a shaft formed by a press housing and at least one pull rod of the ejection device connected in an articulated manner to the lifting plate is arranged in the press area of the shaft on or in a rear wall. In addition, a coupling member is provided for at least temporarily connecting the pull rod and the press plate. The waste press is used for pressing cartons, foils and similar used packaging materials into bales.
2. Description of the Related Art
Already known in the art are waste presses with an ejection device which have in the bottom area of the shaft of the press a lifting plate which can be pivoted toward the door opening. In these waste presses, the drive unit for the lifting movement for pivoting the lifting plate is arranged on the outside at the rear wall of the press housing. The structural elements for connecting the lifting plate to the drive unit extend outwardly through a slot or through slots provided in the rear wall of the press housing and extending down into the pressing area, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,092.
These types of ejection devices are expensive and require a lot of maintenance because of the hydraulic system and the safety circuits in the control program to be provided additionally. Also, through the slots extending down to the pressing area, the materials to be pressed may travel to the outside, or clogging of the slot frequently leads to damage which reduces an effective utilization of the press.
In other types of ejection devices, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,236, ropes anchored in the floor area of the shaft at the front door stop edge are guided through the slots in the rear wall and are individually manually connected to the rear wall for achieving a position of rest. For preparing for the work step of ejecting bales, hooks connected to the ends of the ropes are guided through the slots in the rear wall and hooked into holes of the pressing plate. When the pressing plate which up to now has acted on the bale is moved upwardly, the ropes are tensioned in the direction toward the door opening and eject the finished bale.
In this type of configuration, the pressed material acting on the bottom side of the pressing plate makes it difficult to guide the hooks of the ropes into the holes of the pressing plate. Moreover, when preparing for the next pressing procedure, additional manipulations are required for placing the ropes in the described position. Furthermore, safety circuits are also in this solution required in the control program, so that the ejection device cannot be actuated with the front door being closed, which would lead to significant damage of the press.
Therefore, the applicant has in the past provided, inter alia, ejection devices in baling presses which were provided with a lifting plate at the bottom side, a pull means, preferably a pull rod, which is connected in an articulated manner to the lifting plate and is essentially vertically moveable in the shaft of the press in or at the rear wall thereof, wherein a pivotable or slidable catch member arranged in the area of the rear wall and on the upper side of the pressing plate can be hooked manually at the upper end of the pull means into an eye only after the front door has been opened. Any pressed packaging material lodged between the pressing plate and the rear wall makes it difficult to hook in the catch member. In addition, when actuating the catch member with the pressing plate being in the position in which it is placed on the bale, the operator of the press must reach over the pressing plate and laterally past the pressing die connected to the pressing plate, which means that the operator usually is with his upper body in the shaft of the press. Consequently, safety circuits in the control program must absolutely prevent an unintentional actuation of the pressing plates during this work step. Subsequently, during the subsequent upward movement of the pressing plate, the catch member takes up the pull means, preferably the pull rod, and the lifting plate at the bottom is tilted in the direction toward the released door opening for ejecting the finished and tied bale. For preparing for the next pressing procedure, the pressing plate must initially be moved into the lower position for switching off the ejection device and must then again be moved upwardly.